Couple of months later another journal needed and no-where like Kinokuniya for fab stationery—kid in a lolly-shop there.
The books were another matter. Difficult to buy at the best of times and in a contemporary bookstore especially difficult.
(Briefly and in passing: nothing has dislodged the top shelf of Essential Reads at Kinok in the Takashimaya building on Orchard Road. As was the case two months ago, and two months before that, the roll-call remained unchanged—Emma, Black Beauty & The Secret Garden. All out of copyright perhaps the factor, chain printing their own editions and creaming it with bucolic tales of easeful love for the hungry readership in Sin’pore...Took a wee while for the penny to drop.)
Same Marks & Spencer pavement cafe as on the previous visit, elevated from the sidewalk.
There may have been a Marine on Rec Leave in the store with wife & bub, leafing through the product on the display tables. Possibly merely banker keeping in shape.
On the Tang pagoda-like roof inserts opposite the jade was slowly fading…Purposely for the patina?
The architectural play of cladding over concrete & steel on O. here was second to none, brightest of brains enlisted.
The volume of ads from the big screen was sequenced for the traffic; simultaneously serving useful masking function. Nice syncopation with the churning machinery & rapid gear switches of movie highlights, one after another.
Motorized wheel-chair girl with amplified wind instrument had passed the audition at City Hall for the prime spot back on the Takashimaya corner, opposite the even larger, vertical screen. Always tinkering with the mix here the municipal authorities, keeping it fresh. Lady had cranked up the volume in the duel with the traffic, good bit of distortion.
The trishaw pushcart uncles with their ice-creams was good choice for grounding; olde world normalcy semblance.
A hostage rescued from the Taliban on the march over some rugged terrain. One of the Special Forces guys, Navy Seal whatever, over-stepping the mark and getting a good whack. You don't notice the acoustic with the sudden camera jolt.
Sent the lad flying. That'll teach him how to treat a lady, albeit under duress. Gal like that ain’t gonna take no nonsense from no one, sweet enough to take home to meet Mom, if they ever get outta that pickle in one piece. (Scruffy unshaven Taliban raising the bar pretty high as victims of heroics.)
The old red-ragger Michael Foot with the white mane from the back recesses of memory. Good to recall the long-forgotten, old serviceable rebel. Must have been railing against the Falklands flotilla, sole voice in Parliament, conscience of the house.
Great hair-dressing Meryl; excellent Oscar costuming & make-up chance.
Veolia gutter-sweep had undergone a recent uniform inspection himself. Passed muster handsomely; impressive laundering. Would be a sizeable shock to see her colleagues on Geylang Road unbuttoned to the navel, grimy, long stretched spit-gobs hanging over the gutter.
Safe House. More action. Every day the shoot delayed on the Osama @ Abbottabad was a lost opportunity for the cinaplexes. With some decent luck—no more tsunamis or power station meltdowns, untimely Iranian rescues—a clear run might have them going all the way to Christmas and not outta the question into NY. Timed for Obama's re-election campaign, stills of the Operations Hub bunker at the Pentagon, cut with the re-creation in the advertising.
In the Land of Blood and Honey looks more terrorism, balanced, kinda.
Perfect spot for the Martian landing. A half hour here, dusted down and presentable, the survey of humanity in a nutshell. Paterson & Orchard corner, premier global shopping strip. (See the official confirmation in the first Orchard Road posting of Friday, 9 December 2011.)
Coffee Club, 501 Orchard; possible Levis tie-in down in the bowels. Finally got to the bottom of the charging mystery. The standard latte confirmed $6.10% Service Charge, then add 7% GST. Legit S$7.06. (2013 mind.)
Thank heavens for the AU$ & Chinese raw material thirst. (Few days ago the AU$0.74c against the SG; three years ago 10c under.)
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